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Sunday, 13 May 2012

The great Amazon witch-hunt

Great sections of the book industry, from publishers to retailers, are
repeating the mistakes of the music business and are going for Amazon
with all guns blazing. The online giant is being blamed for the rapid
demise of the book industry and instead of innovating and taking a dip
in the Amazon, the book industry are determined to fight Amazon despite
the outcome being largely inevitable.

Recently bestselling author and librarian, Nancy Pearl's name has been
rubbished by both publishers and book sellers, for republishing several
out of print works with Amazon. The Seattle Mystery Bookshop attacked
Pearl in a blog post - One of the first books [in Pearl's line] to be released is Merle Miller's A Gay and Meloncholy Sound (we
know nothing about this book and have just picked it as an example).
Amazon notes that it will be available on April 2nd at a list price of
$14.95. However, they're selling it for $8.97, a 40% savings. You save
$5.98. If you buy the e-book version for Kindle (something you cannot do
through us), you pay only $5.99. You see, they're not only undercutting
any other bookseller, they're also undercutting themselves...Thus, it
is uneconomical for us to stock and sell printed books published by
Amazon and we believe it would be financially pointless for any
independent to do so. (And, again, while we can sell e-books through our
new website, no one but Amazon can sell the versions for Kindle - that
is proprietary) If you can't realistically make money selling something, why stock it? You can't and expect to keep your business healthy.

The simple truth is that Pearl tried for many months to launch a series
of out of print books with conventional publishers , but was turned down
as many didn't think the range which goes by the title, Book Lust
Rediscoveries will bring long out of print books back into the market as
eBooks and each will feature an introduction by Nancy Pearl. Nothing
wrong with that, surely but the fact is that some booksellers and librarians simply can't stand Amazon.com or anything that Amazon.com touches.

Barnes and Noble have also said that they will not stock any of Amazon's
print books in their stores, because they are annoyed that Amazon have
set up their own publishing imprints. This would seem an empty gesture
though since Amazon books are still available through Barnes and Noble
digital stores. Books a Million, the US's second largest book retailer
after Barnes and Noble, have taken a similar stance. Retail giant Target, also declared war on Amazon and announced it would stop selling Amazon's
Kindle devices, which include the Kindle e-reader, the Kindle Fire
tablet computer, and all the Kindle's accompanying accessories. Target
is dropping the Kindle over a cryptic "conflict of interest," but the
big-box retailer will continue to carry Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader and Apple's
iPad. The seemingly aggressive move has fueled speculation that Target
is targeting Amazon, which has emerged as an existential threat to
physical retailers.

However Amazon don't seem too fussed by all this and there are
rumours that Amazon are to open their own bricks and mortar superstore
in Seattle home of Barnes and Noble. It makes perfect sense that Amazon
will do this and that the shops will offer both Kindle eReaders and Fire
tablets on site, and price these cheaply enough that the devices could
become impulse buys.

Amazon are unbeatable and the ironic thing is that now that Barnes and
Noble and other book giants are losing market share, small independent
bookstores seem to be making a come back. It was the likes of Barns and
Nobles, Borders and Books a Million that were not that long ago
portrayed as the bad guys who were strangling the smaller independents.
The shoe is on the other foot now that Amazon have gotten so big and the
book chains don't like it, in fact they hate it.

It seems certain that Amazon will open its own brick-and-mortar store
later this year. Multiple news outlets (citing unnamed sources) are
reporting that Amazon’s first physical store will open sometime this
year in Seattle.
According to the reports, the store will be smaller than a traditional
big-box chain like a Barnes & Noble, and will mostly feature
high-end products and Amazon exclusives.

Kindle beater?

The thing that the big chains don't seem to realize is that the only
people that matter in all this are book readers, the customers
themselves and Amazon provide a service that book buyers seem to like.
The company are constantly innovating and the Kindle device is a
triumph, though for once the Nook with its new glow screen has taken a
march on the Kinde, but the next version of Amazons device will feature a
similar light added to its eInk screen. Amazon's Digital Publishing
platform is also loved by many and is starting to bring new bestsellers
out of the woodwork. Amazon most certainly have a future and if other
booksellers and publishers want a future themselves, then they need to
stop squabbling with Amazon and start inovating.

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GARY DOBBS/JACK MARTIN

Actor and novelist. As an actor I have appeared in Doctor Who, Torchwood, Gavin and Stacey, Moonmonkeys, Larkrise to Candleford, The Reverend, The Risen.
As a writer I write westerns for the Black Horse Western imprint using the name Jack Martin. Under my own name I am responsible for several novels including the popular Granny Smith series. And using the name Vincent Stark I have written some pretty disturbing stuff.

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